Electrical Engineer vs Computer Hardware Engineer: Which Field Is Better?

Dimension	Electrical Engineer	Computer Hardware Engineer
Median pay	$111,910	$155,020
Projected growth (2024–34)	7.2%	7.3%
Annual openings	11,700	4,700
2024 employment	192,000	76,800
2034 projected employment	205,700	82,400
Self-employed share	1%	1.1%
Typical entry education	Bachelor's degree	Bachelor's degree
Related work experience	None	None
On-the-job training	None	None

Dimension

Electrical Engineer

Computer Hardware Engineer

Median pay

$111,910

$155,020

Projected growth (2024–34)

7.2%

7.3%

Annual openings

11,700

4,700

2024 employment

192,000

76,800

2034 projected employment

205,700

82,400

Self-employed share

1.1%

Typical entry education

Bachelor's degree

Related work experience

None

On-the-job training

None

Electrical Engineer: main tradeoff

Strong pay, broad physical-world applications, and growth tied to power systems, semiconductors, electrification, and infrastructure.

Computer Hardware Engineer: main tradeoff

Very high pay and semiconductor/AI infrastructure tailwinds, but a much smaller labor market than software.

Which should you choose?

Computer Hardware Engineer has the higher national median pay in the BLS data. Computer Hardware Engineer has the higher projected 2024–2034 growth rate. The larger decision is whether you prefer the training path, work style, and occupation-specific tradeoffs of Electrical Engineer or Computer Hardware Engineer.